The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards on Sunday night, but before that, they took down the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. That was the last game the Pistons played, and they got rocked. Boston absolutely clobbered Detroit at TD Garden, earning a 123-99 victory in the process.
It’s been a relatively solid season for the Pistons so far, but that’s not a high bar to climb, considering how bad they were last year. Detroit is 10-16 so far this season, hoping to make a push for the Play-In Tournament by season’s end. But for now, they are stuck in the slog of the regular season.
And after losing to the Celtics, they let Paul Reed go.
Pistons waive Paul Reed after losing to Celtics
Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Pistons waived Reed on Saturday, just a couple of days after playing the Celtics.
It may not be the exact same situation, but by waiving Reed, the Pistons revived a funny trend that occurred multiple times last season—both involving the Toronto Raptors. After two of their losses to the Celtics last year, Toronto decided to make a roster-altering move.
On December 29, the Raptors lost to the Celtics, and on December 30 they traded OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks. On January 15, they lost to Boston again, and on January 17, they traded Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers.
Considering how much goes into making a trade in the NBA nowadays, it’s undoubted that the Pacers had these types of deals lined up, but the fact that both went through after losing to the Celtics was a hilarious coincidence.
And while Reed isn’t the same type of player that Siakam or Anunoby is, it’s still interesting that they decided to let him walk right after playing Boston.
Reed played 15:20 in the Pistons’ loss to the Celtics on Thursday. He had four points, two rebounds, and one turnover while shooting 2-of-6 from the floor and 0-of-2 from behind the three-point line.
Before getting waived, Reed was under contract for this season and next, but his 2025-26 year was non-guaranteed for the full $8.2 million. This season wasn’t fully guaranteed, either.
Maybe the Pistons were always planning to let Reed walk after seeing the way he fit with the team. He only appeared in 12 games this year, playing 10.4 minutes per contest.
However, the fact that it happened right after a blowout loss to the Celtics was a funny coincidence, considering the way the Raptors went about their business last year.